News

Chemistry Past, Present And Future

[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 4, No. 3  9 - 25 March 2009 ]

By Katherine Smith

The Sartorius Balance is among the treasures on show adjacent to the new School of Chemistry teaching laboratories, which were redeveloped through 2008 along with a library and student resource area at a cost of around $12 million.

Curator of the Chemistry Collection display, Dr Petronella Nel, says the Sartorius Balance is just one of the 300-plus items that document the history of Chemistry at Melbourne from the 1850s to the 1960s.

“Balances have been an essential part of the chemist’s equipment since the early nineteenth century, and the company Sartorius, which built this balance, still operates as a technical equipment manufacturer. This particular balance belonged to Gustav Ampt, who was considered one of Australia’s ablest analysts in his day. He purchased the balance with the ten pounds he won in one of his final awards,” Dr Nel explains.

Other items on display in the historical collection – which contrasts strongly with the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities close by – include an induction coil, and samples of cleveite and helium in a discharge tube, presented to the School of Chemistry by Nobel Prize-winner William Ramsay, who first extracted the new element helium, along with discovering the noble gases argon, neon, krypton and xenon.

Samples used to develop optical grade glass in Australia during WWII represent a convergence of our scientific and defence histories, and make an eye-catching display.

“From 1940 the University of Melbourne became heavily involved in the production of optical glass for use in gun-sights, telescopes, binoculars and the like. Under war-time conditions the glass could not be obtained from Germany, nor from allies Britain or the USA, where manufacturing details were closely guarded secrets for both commercial and security reasons.”

The display from the School of Chemistry Collection can be viewed in the Chemistry Building on Masson Road, from 25 February 2009 between 9.00 am-5.00 pm on weekdays.